Freeze lemon juice in jars – yes, you can freeze fresh lemon juice!

If you live in the south, it’s citrus time. Late winter and early spring is the perfect time for picking lemons, grapefruits, limes and oranges. And if you’ve got lots of lemons, you need a way to lengthen their shelf life. You want to keep those natural vitamins and nutrients fresh through the colder months!

If you’re wondering can you freeze fresh lemon juice, yes you can! And it’s easy to do.

Preserving extra citrus juice is easy – here’s how to freeze lemon juice in jars. This preservation method works for any kind of citrus juice, including lime juice, orange juice, and grapefruit juice.

Plus, I’ve got ways for you to freeze lemon slices and also how to freeze lemon zest.

We love freshly squeezed juice. We also love southern California, so we try to get down there every year. When we drive home, we always bring bags and bags of citrus with us.

We just store the bags of fruit in our cold room. Over time I grab a bag of lemons and we use fresh squeezed lemon juice to drink fresh as our home made lemonade.

And if you really love lemons, try these delicious Lemon Meltaway cookies.

How to Freeze Lemon Juice in Jars

But there comes a point when the citrus is in danger of drying out, so here’s what I do to preserve the juice. I grab all the bags and bring them up to the kitchen, where my electric juicer is waiting.

Today, I juiced up the last of the lemons – 2 bags, each weighing 5 pounds. This juicer? I LOVE it and it has lasted for years. It’s a Black & Decker Electric Citrus Juicer and I highly recommend it.

Just slice the fruit in half, set it on the cone and push down. Perfect and easy! And this juicer does a great job of separating the pulp and pits, so you don’t have to worry about straining the solids from the liquid.

You can choose the amount of pulp you want in your juice too. As the carafe below the juicer fills up, I pour it directly into clean mason jars.

I add a seal and a ring. Each one then goes in the upright freezer. I always keep the jars in the door of the freezer, just in case.

Be sure to NOT fill the jar all the way! If a jar is too full, it may crack in the freezer. So leave lots of head room.

In a pinch, you may also be able to store lemon juice in plastic containers made for freezing liquids like these ones. But I find glass jars the safest and most reliable option!

Thawing Frozen Lemon Juice

When I want some lemon juice for either a drink or to include in a recipe, I can just pull a jar out of the freezer and move it into the refrigerator. It thaws in the fridge and we can use it how we like. Freezing the lemon juice preserves the taste well.

We can make Popsicles for a hot afternoon. We love chicken baked with lemon – try our recipe and make this dish for yourself. These are also great for making a simple lemon water; just that and combine with some cold water and regular ice cubes.

Be sure to give the jar a good shake right before you use the juice like you would with store bought plastic bottles of lemon juice. Just make sure the lids are on tight!

Here’s the finished result – remember to be sure and leave more head space than usual in the jars so the glass doesn’t break when the juice freezes.

That small pint jar on the right will be going straight into the fridge. I’ll use that one up first, so I could fill it all the way to the top.

Other Ways to Freeze Lemons

Wondering how else you can freeze fresh lemons? If you’d rather not just be preserving lemon juice, here are a few other ways for freezing lemons for later use.

How do I freeze lemon slices?

Another great way to enjoy lemons all year round is by freezing lemon slices. I don’t recommend trying to freeze lemons whole. You’ll need to slice each lemon into quarters and create lemon wedges. Place each lemon wedge onto a baking sheet.

Place the baking sheet in the freezer until the sliced lemons are frozen. Once the lemon slices are frozen you can place them in a freezer safe ziploc bag.

Freezing the lemon slices on a baking sheet before placing them into a freezer bag helps reduce the risk of having your lemon slices turn mushy from the juice seeping out before the bag of lemon slices are frozen.

You can keep frozen lemon slices in an airtight freezer bag for three to four months if you’re looking for the best flavor.

However, frozen lemon slices will stay safe for much longer. You’ll simply lose the robust flavor of the lemon slices the longer you store them in the freezer.

What can I use Frozen Lemons For?

Now that you know how to freeze lemons, there are lots of great ideas to use these frozen lemons in the future. There are a variety of uses for frozen lemons such as cold & flu remedies, cooking from scratch, homemade lemonade, and dessert recipes.

How to freeze lemon zest?

Depending on the size of your lemons, you should be able to take 1-2 tablespoons of zest from each fruit. Place your lemon rind in a single layer on parchment paper or a cookie sheet. Place the baking sheet in your freezer and allow the lemon zest to freeze completely.

Once the lemon zest is frozen you may remove the cookie sheet from the freezer. Place the frozen lemon zest inside a freezer bag and write the date on the freezer bag.

Freeze the zest for up to six months for the best flavor.

How to use lemon zest for after taking it out of the freezer?

Freezing lemon zest makes it easily accessible for you in the future. There are many options to use lemon zest after taking it out of the freezer.

You can add the lemon zest in your from-scratch recipes that call for lemon zest, you can include lemon zest or lemon peels in your favorite beverages, or use it to make lemon sugar.

Lemon sugar is one of the best ways to use your frozen lemon zest. This is a substitute for regular granulated sugar.

Lemon sugar may be used in drinks, recipes, and other concoctions that call for regular sugar. This will add an extra zest to any drink or recipe that calls for sugar!

How to freeze lemon juice in ice cube trays?

You can opt to freeze lemon juice so that you get to use out of your whole harvest of this citrus fruit. Making lemon juice into frozen cubes helps provide you with a quick grab-n-use option for your favorite beverages all year round!

Steps to Freeze Lemon Juice in Ice Cube Trays

• You’ll need to gather your lemons. Slice each lemon in half using a sharp knife.
• Using a citrus press you will squeeze each lemon half into a large bowl or mason jar.
• As the bowl or jar fills up, pour your lemon juice into ice cube trays.
• Once all of your lemons have been squeeze into juice and the ice cube trays are full, place the ice cubes in your freezer.
• Freeze the juice for 24 hours.
• You can take your frozen lemon juice cubes and place them inside a freezer bag.
• Seal the bag and date it for quick access to your frozen lemon juice ice cubes in the future.

So, freeze lemon juice in jars this year – a great way to eat healthy year round!

 

More Lemon Recipes You’ll Love 

• Mediterranean Lemon Chicken – so so good!
• This quick and easy home made Lemonade tastes so delicious on a hot summer day.
• Feel like doing some baking? This Lemon Loaf with a Rosemary Glaze is sure to please.
• Want more information on the juicer I use and love? Plant a citrus tree indoors!

Originally published 2014; updated June 2022

Here’s how to freeze green leafy vegetables – use them later as a side dish or in a smoothie.

Greens – they are one of the easiest things to grow in your garden. Lettuce, mesclun greens of all kinds, chard, spinach, beet greens, arugula, Bok choy, collard greens, turnip greens – the list of leafy greens goes on and on.

And they are great of course for salads and on sandwiches. But did you know that you can actually freeze many different types of greens? Yes. You. Can! Here’s how to freeze green leafy vegetables.

So plant more leafy greens than you can eat fresh – then blanch and freeze them to enjoy later in the season. Or in the dead of winter. Serve this as a side vegetable along with dinner.

Each year, we grow a lot of beets. Graham loves Pickled Beets and I also pressure can beets for winter eating. We also grow lots of Spinach and Chard, along with plenty of Lettuce for salads.

 

You can also use this method to freeze greens for smoothies. If you love having a smoothie to start your day and get a kickstart of veggies, here’s how you can blanch and freeze greens.

Plus, you will save a lot of money not having to buy kale, chard or Chinese greens in the winter time. This of course is when they are most expensive.

So grow your own, grow a lot of them, then use them all winter long! And if you aren’t able to grow them, consider joining a local CSA and getting a regular CSA box for the season. 

If these aren’t an option, then take advantage of sales, either at the farmers’ market or the grocery store when they are on sale. Preserve any extra leafy greens to store in airtight Ziplock bags to use for months to come.

How to Freeze Green Leafy Vegetables

 

Chard doesn’t mind the hot weather so it’s a great mid summer green to grow in full sun. Here’s one of our Swiss Chard harvests – huge leaves and nice thick ribs on the stems.

This Chard is called Fordhook Giant Swiss Chard, but you can also get a Swiss Chard variety with the different coloured stems – it’s quite beautiful.

 

After harvesting, I just give the Chard a good washing before blanching. I use a large stock pot for blanching greens. This way I can fit a lot of greens in every load. Get a large pot of water boiling on the stove before adding the greens.

Blanching Leafy Greens for Freezing

After adding the greens, wait for the water to begin boiling again. Then, let it boil for 2 minutes.

Scoop the greens out with tongs, into a colander, letting the excess water run off into the pot. Immediately plunge the greens into cold water. I just fill one of my sinks while the water is boiling.

Be sure to use very cold water – you want the greens to cool fast. You can also remove the greens from the heat and put them immediately into a large bowl of ice water.

 

Swish the greens around in the cold water, adding more cold water if needed. Make sure the greens are cold – it’s OK if it takes a bit of time to get them cooled down.

Then spin the greens dry in a salad spinner. It’s important to make sure the greens are quite dry, without water still clinging to them. You need to drain any water from them before you bag them. This will reduce any ice crystals from forming.

Pack them in single serving size Ziploc bags or other freezer bag and then squeeze as much air as possible from the bag. Seal them, label them as to the contents and put them in the freezer.

That’s it – that’s all there is to freezing leafy greens. Easy, right? When you’re ready to use, just thaw and heat them up. I like to heat them on a stove, using a steamer.

And remember that they are partially cooked, so you won’t have to heat them for long. Then serve them alongside your meat and potatoes as your dinner vegetable.

How to Freeze Green Leafy Vegetables for Smoothies

 

If you are going to freeze leafy greens for smoothies, then you may want to cut the greens into smaller pieces before adding them to the boiling water for blanching. 

This will make it easier to use them in smoothies. I have a NutriBullet we use for smoothies and it is fantastic! You can use a blender as well.

The same method applies – blanch the leafy greens for 2 minutes then plunge them into cold water.

Give them a spin to dry them off really well, then bag them up. Put them in the freezer for later. Let the frozen greens thaw before using in your green smoothie.

Freezing Greens in Ice Cube Trays

If you would rather have much smaller amounts of frozen greens, consider freezing them in an ice cube tray. You can pull out as many cubes as you need at a time.

Add to your favorite soup recipe to enhance the flavor, taste and the amount of nutrients.

That is what we do with our Basil leaves and other small herbs too. Here’s how to freeze greens in ice cube trays.

Use this method to freeze leafy green vegetables such as spinach, beet greens and swiss chard.

 

More about Preserving Food

Did you know you can Blanch and Freeze Garden Peas like this? Perfect for eating fresh peas all year round. 

If you have a Rhubarb plant or two, look at all the ways you can Use Rhubarb – Can it, Juice it and much more.

Here’s exactly how I Freeze Lemon Juice – if you live where citrus trees grow, you will want to read this.

Here’s the fastest way to defrost a freezer!

 

 

 

originally published Jan 2020; updated Sept 2024

 

Once you learn how to freeze fresh peas from the garden, you will be freezing other garden greens too!

Peas are one of the easiest vegetables to grow, plus they are one of our favourite vegetables. I like to plant as much as I can, so I can blanch and freeze peas for eating all winter long.

As early in the season as possible, I try to get the peas planted. Peas are definitely a cool weather vegetable, so plant them early.

I plant my seed along the fence line in the main garden. I plant them here because it’s easy and I like doing things the easy way. This way, I don’t have to fuss with putting in supports for the pea vines to grow against.

It’s so much easier to have them growing up something that is already there. They can just grab onto the fence wire, and their tendrils will wind around the wire, keeping the plants upright.

 

I always look forward to harvesting fresh green peas. Mind you, I harvest a few almost every time I am in the garden!

Who can resist picking a pea pod off, pulling the string and popping those fresh tender peas full of sweet flavor right in the mouth? No one, that’s who.

Another reason I love picking peas is because it will mean rest time for me. Aaah, there is nothing like a pea induced rest on the porch, I love it.

It gets quite hot here in the afternoons and there is nothing I like better than taking a rest on my farmhouse porch in the shade with a bag or two of peas to shell.

I can shell while sitting quietly, rocking in my chair and looking around the yard. I can be busy, but not “busy” if you know what I mean.

When I’m done shelling, I move on to the next part. That’s preserving peas for the freezer so we can eat them all winter long.

We always plant enough peas to last all winter.

 

Instructions on How to Blanch and Freeze Peas

I always blanch and freeze peas – it is a great way to preserve them. They taste so much better than canned peas – we never eat those.

We do a lot of home canning, but we never home can peas.

Freezing is my favorite way to practice home food preservation.

Since I am going to freeze the peas, I put a large pot of water on the stove to come to a rolling boil.

Once the water boils, I add all the shelled peas and let them sit in the boiling water for two minutes. This blanches the vegetable enough to then be able to freeze it.

After the two minutes is up, I immediately dump the pot into a colander in the sink and start running cold water over the peas.

You can also transfer them to a large bowl of ice water. An ice water bath will stop the cooking process and keep them at exactly the texture and flavor you want them.

Once they feel cool, plug in the stopper and just let the sink fill a bit and let the colander just sit there.

Run your fingers through to ensure cold water gets to all the peas. This will speed up the cooling process.

When the peas are cold, I drain all the water from the colander. Then, I pour the peas out onto cookie sheets or a shallow pan in a single layer.

If you feel there is too much moisture on the peas, you can spread them out on a clean kitchen towel and blot them dry.

I dump them right from the colander onto a baking sheet and then spread the peas out using my hands. Make sure they are in a single layer.

You want them to freeze individually, so they they don’t all clump together.

Then just pop the trays in the freezer for 24 hours and bring them back out. I like to let them sit for just a couple of minutes. Just long enough that it’s easier to get them off the sheet.

Use a spatula to get the frozen peas off the sheet and right into the freezer bag.

I like freezing them like this so the peas are frozen individually. This way, when we want to have some we can just pour out the desired amount.

Then, bring them to a quick boil before adding them to our dinner plates.

We love shelled peas, either to eat on their own or use in our favorite recipes and dishes – I usually plant some snow peas and sometimes snap peas too. This year, it’s all shell peas called Bounty. These are an heirloom seed, so I can save my own seed.

Here’s how to save pea seed, so we don’t have to buy it again.

This blanching process works for most vegetables that you want to freeze.

Boil the clean vegetables for 2 minutes, then plunge into cool water to cool them off quickly. Then pop them into freezer bags, expel as much air as possible from the bag and put the sealed bags in the freezer for long term storage. Done!

So that’s how you blanch and freeze peas. And once you do it for yourself, you will see how fast and easy it is.

These peas are great for making soups and stews, casseroles, stir-fries, for toppings on salads, or to serve alongside corn, carrots, broccoli, green beans, or any of your other favorite veggies!

Peas are a great source of vitamins and minerals, and paired with other foods that are high in fiber and protein they make for a super healthy food that you can grow in your own garden!

If you want to learn more about freezing your own garden harvests, take a look at this great book, one of the best resources available is the Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery.

 

Learn More About Preserving Food

• How to save Pea seed – so you don’t have to buy seed anymore
• Interested in beginning to build your food supply? Here are the four ways we preserve and store our food.
• Check out the easiest way to defrost a freezer.
• Pickled Beets are an easy way to learn how to pickle foods. Here’s how to make and home can pickled beets.
• Ever wondered how to make your own Sauerkraut? Here’s how to make home made fermented Sauerkraut. (And how to can it, too)

 

 

 

Originally published Jan 2020; latest update March 2026